Hub management bus architecture for repeater interface controller

Abstract

The present invention is directed to various features of a repeater interface controller (RIC) that connects segments of a bus/tree local area network. In the described embodiment of the invention, the RIC implements the IEEE 802.3 repeater specification. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the RIC provides hub management support in the form of information regarding the status of its ports and of the packets it is repeating. This data is available in three forms: counted events, recorded events and status packets. This information is available through the RIC's interface. The counters and event recording registers have user-definable masks which enable them to be configured to count and record a variety of events. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the RIC management statistics at maximum network bandwidth. Statistics are logged while a packet repetition is in process and are furnished to counter and flag arrays after transmission of the same packet has ended. The independent operations of logging and furnishing the information allows management statistics gathering of successive packets with minimal interframe gaps.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A repeater interface controller connectable to a plurality of segments of a local area network for repeating information packets therebetween, the information packets having at least one characteristic that specifies an associated event, the repeater interface controller comprising: a plurality of port nodes, each port node being connectable to a corresponding segment of the local area network for transferring information packets between said corresponding segment and said port node, each port node including an event record register that responds to information packets transferred by said port node by recording the associated events and maintaining an event record thereof and an event counter that responds to information packets transferred by said port node by counting the associated events and maintaining a count value thereof;   an event bus connected to each of the port nodes; and   a hub management unit connected to the event bus for retrieving event records and count values from the port nodes.   
     
     
       2. A repeater interface controller as in claim 1 and wherein the hub management unit responds to event records and count values retrieved from the port nodes by generating corresponding hub information. 
     
     
       3. A repeater interface controller as in claim 2 wherein the hub management unit is connectable to an external processor such that the hub information may be transferred from the hub management unit to the external processor via a system bus connected therebetween. 
     
     
       4. A repeater interface controller as in claim 2 and further comprising a hub management interface unit connected to the hub management unit for transferring hub information to a destination unit that is external to the repeater interface controller and that is connectable to the hub management interface unit. 
     
     
       5. A repeater interface controller as in claim 4 wherein the destination unit is an external local area network controller connectable to the hub management interface unit via a hub management bus. 
     
     
       6. A repeater interface controller as in claim 5 wherein the hub information transferred to the network controller comprises a packet received by the repeater interface controller and statistical information relating to the associated events. 
     
     
       7. A repeater interface controller as in claim 5 wherein the hub management interface unit includes compression means for compressing the hub information. 
     
     
       8. A repeater interface controller as in claim 1 and including a transfer mechanism connected to the event bus for transferring event records and count values associated with an information packet to the hub management unit while the repeater interface controller is repeating said packet. 
     
     
       9. A repeater interface controller as in claim 8 and further including flag and counter arrays and means for providing hub information regarding said packet to the flag and counter arrays after repetition of said packet has ended. 
     
     
       10. A repeater interface controller connectable to a plurality of segments of a local area network for repeating information packets therebetween, the information packets having at least one characteristic that specifies an associated event, the repeater interface controller comprising: a plurality of port nodes, each port node being connectable to a corresponding segment of the local area network for transferring information packets between said corresponding segment and said port node, each port node including an event record register that responds to information packets transferred by said port node by recording the associated events and maintaining an event record thereof and an event counter that responds to information packets transferred by said port node by counting the associated events and maintaining a count value thereof;   an event bus connected to each of the port nodes;   a hub management unit connected to the event bus for retrieving the event records and the count values from the port nodes and that responds to event records and count values retrieved from the port nodes by generating corresponding hub information;   a hub management interface unit connected to the hub management unit for transferring hub information to a local area network controller that is external to the repeater interface controller and that is connectable to the hub management interface unit via a hub management bus; and   wherein the repeater interface controller further includes delay compensation means for compensating for inter-frame processing delays in the external local area network controller thereby preventing the repeater interface controller from transferring hub information to the local area network controller when the local area network controller is unable to monitor the hub information.   
     
     
       11. A repeater interface controller connectable to a plurality of segments of a local area network for repeating information packets therebetween, the repeater interface controller comprising: a plurality of port nodes, each port node being connected to a corresponding segment of the local area network for receiving information packets from said corresponding segment and for transmitting repeated information packets to said corresponding segment;   a central node connected to each of the port nodes, said central node including a central node receiver for receiving information packets from the port nodes, repeater means responsive to receipt of information packets by the central node receiver for generating repeated information packets, and a central node transmitter for transmitting repeated information packets to the port nodes;   management means responsive to information packets received by the repeater interface controller via the port nodes, the management means including (i) event storage means responsive to said received information packets for recording events associated with said received information packets and for maintaining event records thereof and (ii) event counter means responsive to said received information packets for counting said associated events and for maintaining a count value thereof.   
     
     
       12. A repeater interface controller as in claim 11 and wherein each port node includes (i) an event record register responsive to information packets received by said port node from said corresponding segment by recording selected associated events and maintaining an event record thereof and (ii) an event counter responsive to information packets received by said port node from said corresponding segment by counting predefined associated events and maintaining a count value thereof. 
     
     
       13. A repeater interface controller as in claim 12 and further comprising an event bus connected to each port node and a hub management unit connected to the event bus for retrieving event records and count values from the port nodes. 
     
     
       14. A repeater interface controller as in claim 13 and wherein the hub management unit includes means responsive to retrieved event records and count values for generating corresponding hub management information. 
     
     
       15. A repeater interface controller as in claim 14 wherein the hub management unit is connectable to an external processor via a system bus such that the hub management information may be transferred from the hub management unit to the external processor via the system bus. 
     
     
       16. A repeater interface controller as in claim 11 and further comprising: source identification means for identifying a port node that receives an information packet from a local area network segment connected to said port node as a source port node;   disable means responsive to identification of the source port node for disabling transfer of information packets from port nodes other than the source port node to the central node; and   wherein the central node responds to an information packet received from the source port node by transmitting a corresponding repeated information packet to port nodes other than the source port node.   
     
     
       17. A repeater interface controller as in claim 16 and further comprising collision arbitration means for identifying a source port node when more than one port node receives an information packet from its associated segment substantially simultaneously. 
     
     
       18. A repeater interface controller as in claim 11 and further comprising inter-repeater bus interface means connectable to an inter-repeater bus for interconnecting a plurality of repeater interface controllers whereby the interconnected repeater interface controllers serve as a single logical repeater interface controller. 
     
     
       19. A repeater interface controller as in claim 18 and wherein repeated information packets transmitted by the central node include status information, the inter-repeater bus interface means including transmitter means for transmitting status information to the inter-repeater bus and receiver means for receiving status information from the inter-repeater bus. 
     
     
       20. A repeater interface controller as in claim 19 and wherein the inter-repeater bus interface means further includes means for asynchronously transmitting and asynchronously receiving status information. 
     
     
       21. A repeater interface controller as in claim 19 and wherein the inter-repeater bus interface means includes means for synchronously transmitting and synchronously receiving status information. 
     
     
       22. A repeater interface controller as in claim 18 and wherein the inter-repeater bus interface means includes means for transmitting and receiving priority data identifying a priority port node when more than one port node of the plurality of repeater interface repeaters receives an information packet substantially simultaneously. 
     
     
       23. A repeater interface controller as in claim 22 and further comprising arbiter means responsive to the priority data for identifying a selected repeater interface controller as a priority repeater interface controller.